It’s a secure wager that in a state that’s punched above its weight with nationally revered senators—Democrats George Mitchell and Edmund Muskie, Republicans Margaret Chase Smith, and Invoice Cohen—residents weren’t anticipating a German army image favored by Hitler’s elite forces to be a sleeper subject in subsequent 12 months’s U.S. Senate race. However when it turned out that political neophyte and Democratic candidate Graham Platner was sporting a tattoo of the Totenkopf, the cranium and crossbones image favored by the Nazi SS, Maine was thrown for a loop. This isn’t how issues go in a state that produces esteemed politicians and defies straightforward categorization.
As is occurring nationally, many Maine Democrats are cautious of older institution candidates and need youthful candidates who they imagine will actively resist Trump. Republicans and Democrats have grow to be extra divergent, because the GOP has grow to be extra linked to Donald Trump and MAGA, and a phase of Democrats has embraced Bernie Sanders-style Democratic socialism. Extra city, educated voters lean Democratic, whereas, notably with the decline of producing, extra rural, non-college-educated ones are typically Republican.
However Maine’s political winds don’t blow identical to they do elsewhere. Maine has an unbiased streak, regional identities, a ticket-splitting custom, and a posh political tradition. The Pine Tree State has lengthy been marked by Yankee pragmatism. Its voting inhabitants, the oldest within the nation, embraces civility and moderation. Furthermore, with excessive ranges of political participation, Mainers count on accessible candidates who know native wants and supply options to their group’s issues. Two main contests, a Democratic U.S. Senate main to problem the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, and a Democratic U.S. Home main in Maine’s sprawling 2nd District, illustrate how native dynamics nonetheless matter in an period of nationalized politics the place change for the sake of change overrides expertise, coverage, civility, and management.
Maine Democrats have tried for 3 a long time to oust Collins. They’ve, in truth, not elected a Democratic U.S. Senator since George Mitchell, then Senate Majority Chief, received his closing time period in 1990 and Collins succeeded him. (The state’s different U.S. Senator, Angus King, is a former governor and an unbiased who caucuses with Democrats.) Since successful her seat in 1996—fairly a feat in a sturdy Democratic 12 months as Invoice Clinton cruised to reelection—Collins has drawn assist past the Republican base, portraying herself as a reasonable within the custom of Maine GOP predecessors like Senators Olympia Snowe and her husband, former Governor John “Jock” McKernan. In 2020, when Democrats poured cash into the race, and Joe Biden carried the state comfortably—though he misplaced its rural 2nd Congressional District in a state that apportions some electoral votes by CD—Collins received reelection with 51 p.c in a ranked selection race towards Democrat Sarah Gideon who completed 8 factors again and was pounded by Collins for being “from away.”
The 72-year-old’s survival displays not simply her private attraction, but in addition Maine’s distinctiveness. Collins has been profitable as a result of she was capable of pitch herself as comparatively unbiased and centrist, with credibility on abortion rights and environmental coverage.
Nonetheless, the senior senator was final reelected earlier than the Supreme Court docket justices she helped placed on the bench overturned Roe v. Wade, and earlier than she backed a sequence of Trump’s second-term cupboard nominees. (She famously expressed confidence that Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom she voted to verify, would uphold the 50-year-old constitutional proper to an abortion.) In 2020, Collins contended that Mainers ought to stick along with her as a result of she would grow to be the pinnacle of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This promised energy place is now a mere appendage to the whims of President Donald Trump and Russell Vought, director of the Workplace of Administration and Finances (whom she voted to verify). She will be able to vote anti-GOP when her vote will not be wanted, as she continues to champion herself as bipartisan.
This 12 months ought to be higher for Democrats. Since that is an off-year election with decrease turnout than presidential years like 1996 and 2020, the voters will doubtless development extra upscale and Democratic. The questions now are whether or not Democrats can mount a extra substantial problem and who amongst them is greatest positioned to defeat Collins.
Governor Janet Mills, who has entered the race, brings statewide title recognition and a powerful resume. She’s the one Democrat elected statewide within the final 20 years. She made historical past in 2018 by changing into the first lady elected governor of Maine after eight years in two non-consecutive phrases as legal professional basic. Mills received that main by beating a discipline that included reasonable and progressive candidates who did greatest in wealthier, extra liberal areas of the state. Mills then received by a landslide in 2022 over former Governor Paul LePage, who proclaimed himself as “Donald Trump earlier than Donald Trump.” Amongst different issues, LePage focused Mills for her championing of reproductive rights and for allegedly condoning an LGBT-focused educating video in elementary faculties.
Mills has stood as much as each LePage and Trump throughout her time as legal professional basic and governor, and her management via the COVID-19 pandemic and on environmental points has earned her reward from many Democrats. She received into verbal fisticuffs with Trump early in his second time period when, at a gathering of the Nationwide Governors Affiliation, Trump challenged Maine’s trans athletes coverage and threatened to withdraw federal funding. Mills replied, “See you in courtroom.” However her gubernatorial file on tribal rights, labor rights, and different insurance policies has angered progressives. At 77, she can be the oldest Senate freshman ever.
Enter Graham Platner, a 41-year-old populist outsider. An anti-war activist in highschool, Platner joined the army and labored for Blackwater, a resume that defies straightforward ideological categorization. With an emphasis on combating the oligarchy, his marketing campaign has sparked enthusiasm amongst youthful Democrats and progressives, and it has acted swiftly to coach and manage over 11,000 volunteers. Platner has additionally raised over $4 million. He portrays himself as a workingman’s candidate. Nonetheless, one father or mother is an legal professional, the opposite a small enterprise proprietor, and he got here to oyster farming after attending the dear George Washington College for just a few years.
Moreover the Nazi iconography dug into his chest, Platner additionally carries baggage in from Reddit posts containing sexist, racist stereotypes, and unfavourable characterizations of rural white voters which have resurfaced, elevating doubts about whether or not he can survive the scrutiny of a basic election marketing campaign. Their launch led his political director, who hadn’t identified about them beforehand, to resign. These revelations don’t dissuade Platner’s strongest supporters, however it’s unclear if different Democrats and the broader Maine voters see them extra negatively. The revelation that he has a Nazi tattoo and his clarification that he received it whereas drunk in Croatia and didn’t know what the Totenkopf meant has induced employees to flee and plenty of to query whether or not he’s the winner they thought he was. (Sanders is standing by his man.)
The first contest between Mills and Platner (and different candidates) echoes the broader generational and ideological stress enjoying out nationally, however it doesn’t map onto it completely. Mills is the institution selection from a household in Maine for seven generations, however she is something however staid. She entered politics as a feminist trailblazer, co-founding the state’s main girls’s advocacy group and breaking a number of glass ceilings as a district legal professional, Maine’s legal professional basic, after which governor. Like Vermont’s Sanders, she is older however doesn’t challenge that method. Platner’s outsider credentials are counterbalanced by a previous which will, to say the least, alienate key components of the Democratic coalition and recruits who’re skeptical that his apologies are honest.
Furthermore, Mills has deep native information. Platner is a political newcomer whose marketing campaign appears like a generic model of Bernie Sanders-style rhetoric, irrespective of the particular wants of localities. This distinction between the candidates doubtless will matter for a state that’s been so intensely pragmatic. Thus, it is a battle between young and old and a take a look at of credibility and consistency in a political tradition that prizes localism and resists nationalization.
Whereas the Senate main race mirrors nationwide dynamics, the competition between Democrats in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District tells a really totally different story.
Jared Golden, the 43-year-old Democratic incumbent, has constructed a popularity as one of the vital conservative members of his caucus. Representing a big rural district that Trump received twice, Golden has typically damaged together with his get together on impeachment, pupil debt reduction, and tariffs, and most not too long ago on a seamless decision to maintain the federal government open, amongst different points. The agricultural district has elected centrist Democrats (and reasonable Republicans) earlier than, however these incumbents didn’t flip off their get together base as Golden has. Along with his votes on authorities funding, Golden has been damage by his avoidance of holding city halls; his unconcern a couple of second time period for Trump (he characterised voters fearful about threats to democracy as “pearl-clutching”); and his votes for the SAVE Act, which might impose new voter ID necessities.
Golden is now dealing with a main problem from 60-year-old Matt Dunlap, who’s held varied workplaces as state legislator, secretary of state, and state auditor. At dwelling with a searching rifle and fishing rod, Dunlap was government director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. Dunlap isn’t working to Golden’s left within the typical sense. He’s not a progressive firebrand or ideological rebel. As a substitute, his critique is rooted primarily in Maine’s political tradition, which values responsiveness, accessibility, and group connection.
Dunlap has emphasised his file of public service and direct engagement with voters, contrasting it with what he describes as Golden’s aloofness and combative tone. Dunlap has made clear his opposition to Trump and MAGA politics. As Secretary of State and a member of a fee Trump created to research election fraud within the 2016 election, he resisted Trump’s entreaties to show over Maine’s voting rolls and efficiently sued Trump. On the similar time, Dunlap, a commissioner on the Maine Wabanaki-State Baby Welfare Fact and Reconciliation Fee (TRC), was seen as a considerate bridge-builder. Dunlap is a center-left politician who talks about constitutional norms and public belief.
Provided that Dunlap is barely older than Golden, the race doesn’t contain a need to put in a youthful Democrat and exchange an older one. In some ways, this race can be not about ideology. It’s about political tradition. Maine’s Second District has an extended historical past of electing moderates from each events, and it additionally rewards candidates who present up, pay attention, and construct native relationships. Dunlap bets Golden could have misplaced contact with that native custom in carving out a maverick Blue Canine model nationally.
Maine’s electoral dynamics supply a important reminder that nationwide tendencies don’t translate into races across the nation.
Maine voters have repeatedly defied standard knowledge. Whereas they elected Paul LePage as governor within the Tea Occasion age and reelected him 4 years later—primarily resulting from a referendum on banning bear searching, which introduced many hunters to the polls—LePage by no means acquired a majority vote. That starkly contrasts with center-left and center-right candidates like Senators King, Snowe, and Collins and Invoice Cohen—the previous Home Judiciary Committee member who broke together with his get together to question Richard Nixon, U.S. Senator within the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush eras, and Protection Secretary underneath President Clinton. Competence and pragmatism stay Maine political values.
For Democrats, the teachings are clear. Profitable in Maine requires greater than checking ideological bins. It means understanding the state’s political tradition, regional sensibilities, and values guiding its famously unbiased voters. Within the Senate race, meaning weighing expertise, pragmatism, and native information towards the dangers and promise of an untested rebel who hasn’t developed a way of particular cities’ wants however is an inspirational speaker. Within the Home race, it means recognizing that retail politics and the way candidates deal with their constituents can matter simply as a lot as coverage positions.
Because the 2026 midterms take form, Maine’s races are value watching, not simply because they may tip the stability of energy in Washington, however as a result of they problem the assumptions of recent marketing campaign playbooks. In an period of acquainted gusts tracked by nationwide observers, Maine stays stubbornly nuanced and its political winds its personal.
